From the prior art, one skilled in the art can find a known reflector device which has two connection elements on a back side that faces away from a light emission side of a reflector element. The connection elements are electrically conductive metal parts, whose outer shape is embodied with the aid of a turning process. The connection elements perform three main functions: First, they make it possible to connect an individual lamp inside the reflector element; second, because of their electrical conductivity, they connect the individual lamp to an electrical power source; and third, they serve to secure the entire reflector device in a retention device.
A reflector device as in the prior art is shown in detail in FIGS. 1 through 3 and corresponds in its construction to types of reflector device that are currently being produced. In such a device, the connection elements are fixed on the reflector element in such a way that they are passed through mounting openings, provided for them, in the back side of the reflector element and are crimped axially from the opposite side. The bracing of the connection elements on the outer side of the back wall that is required for the crimping is assured by a ring embodied on the circumference of the connection elements.
The fact that the connection elements must necessarily have a ring, which besides its bracing function must additionally serve as a stabilizing element to prevent tilting of the connection elements inside the mounting opening, must be considered disadvantageous in this device and in this method. Producing such a connection element in one work step is currently possible only with the aid of turning methods. This has the disadvantage that the turned parts thus obtained are not only complicated to produce but are also subject in particular to the limitation to outer shapes that are rotationally symmetrical. Non-rotationally symmetrical embodiments can be realized as needed in additional work steps—for instance by subsequent milling. However, because of this and because of the great amount of material waste that turning methods fundamentally involve, production becomes still more expensive.
It must also be considered disadvantageous that in a further method step involving costs, a sunken crosspiece, which is capable of receiving the ring embodied on the outer circumference of the connection element, must be made in the back side of the reflector element. This is necessary in order to assure a smooth surface of the back side, since otherwise the reflector device, because of the step formed by the ring, cannot be secured in a retention device intended for it.